Oregon's decrepit roads to find fixes with new funding

Abby Metty/The OregonianGlen Kendall helps direct large equipment today as Oregon Department of Transportation workers begin a maintenance project on U.S. 26 near Sandy. Motorists will see more such maintenance work in coming years, because of a bill Gov. Ted Kulongoski will sign into law on Wednesday.

Replacement of Portland's Sellwood Bridge and overhauls of several long-standing roadway problems statewide gain real momentum today as Gov. Ted Kulongoski signs into law the biggest transportation spending measure in Oregon history.

Drivers going to the coast along Oregon 99W will get a new route to bypass Newberg and Dundee. In eastern Oregon's Baker City, rebuilding Chandler Lane near Interstate 84 will open a key freight route and ease traffic congestion. In southern Oregon, Roseburg's route to the coast will become safer with a project to straighten Oregon 42 near the Douglas-Coos county line.

Most projects need federal funding as well for completion, but Oregon's part is sealed today with the state's commitment to spend $300 million a year to fix its decrepit roadways and bridges.

THE BILL'S NEW PROVISIONS

Transportation fees, spending

Oregon's new transportation bill will raise $300 million a year. The Oregon Department of Transportation would get $137 million; counties, $82 million; cities, $55 million; and other projects, $26 million. Most projects would require federal and local money to be complete.

First-tier projects include:

• Oregon 99W, Newberg and Dundee Bypass, $192 million

• Oregon 212, Sunrise Corridor, $100 million

• Interstate 5 in Eugene, $80 million

• U.S. 26, Shute Road interchange, $45 million

• U.S. 26, Glencoe Road interchange, $32 million

• Oregon 43, Sellwood Bridge interchange, $30 million

Fuel taxes

• State gas and diesel taxes increase from 24 cents a gallon to 30 cents. Both take effect only after two consecutive quarters of statewide nonfarm job growth, or January 2011, whichever comes first.

Fees for cars, most go into effect Oct. 1:

• Two-year registration fee for most vehicles increases from $54 to $86.

• One-time title fee increases from $55 to $77.

• The cost of plates increases from $5 a pair to $20.

• State ID cards increase from $34.50 to $44.50. Renewal goes up by $10 to $40.50, and replacement goes up $10 to $39.50. Driver's license fees do not change.

- Dylan Rivera

New fees come first, however. Motorists will see the effects of the law in October, when higher vehicle registration fees kick in, and by January 2011, when a 6-cent-a-gallon gas tax goes into effect. Because the fees are eased in, it could take a year or more to see any additional pavement laid from money the bill generates.

But the final approval of House Bill 2001 shows massive political will to address a transportation system that has suffered from deferred maintenance and underinvestment for more than a decade. Most significantly, it will boost gas taxes for the first time since 1993, something that was considered a political third rail since voters rejected a gas tax increase in 1999.

The bill also touches a broad range of the transportation system, providing new programs for mass transit, freight rail and airports. It also requires urban planning to reduce emissions that contribute to global warming.

An urban trails account will generate $1 million a year that could be used for projects that connect to buses and light-rail lines. A long-planned bike and pedestrian corridor in Northeast Portland's Sullivan's Gulch could be eligible for that money.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams, who has lobbied for a gas tax increase for years, on Tuesday said the bill falls short of ideal on some mass transit and global warming goals. But he said it still represents a big, overdue investment for the state.

"Give credit where it's due, to the governor and the Legislature, for making these investments at a time when we really need it," Adams said. "This will create jobs and save lives and begin to address the ever-expanding backlog in basic transportation maintenance and safety."

But the bill's harshest critics said late in the legislative session that it failed to adequately cut down on driving and auto-related pollution. It also for the first time allowed lawmakers to direct money to specific projects -- the practice known as earmarking.

The Dundee bypass, at $192 million, is the leading example.

The earmarking isolated environmental groups like 1000 Friends of Oregon, said Bob Stacey, the group's executive director. The projects were all for roads that, the group contended, would promote sprawling development.

Yet even Stacey was expected to show up at today's bill signing with a smile on his face. That's because the group won a concession of its own: Stuffed into an unrelated bill, the governor and lawmakers established a task force on how to use transportation and land-use planning to reduce global warming-related emissions.

"We were very pleased that the governor and Senate president and House speaker have made that commitment," Stacey said Tuesday.

Preparing the way

Legislative compromise and attention to the groups that could potentially refer the package to voters made for a winning recipe. More than a year before the legislative session began in January, Kulongoski convened a committee comprising activist and trade groups, representatives of gasoline dealers, car owners and environmental groups.

Motorist group AAA worked to kill a gas tax increase in 1999 that was supported by the Oregon Trucking Association, but both were at the table all along in drafting HB2001.

"Not everybody is going to love every aspect of this package, but there's something for everyone in this plan," says Marie Dodds, Director of Government & Public Affairs for AAA of Oregon/Idaho. "You see that in the way this was approved by Republicans and Democrats."

Gasoline dealers won a four-year prohibition from local gas tax increases and registration fees. But local governments won greater flexibility in the future to raise vehicle registration fees.

And even within the push and pull of new local fees, the Legislature crafted an exemption that will allow Multnomah and Clackamas counties to enact their own registration fees for the Sellwood Bridge replacement.

"The state bill really catapulted the Sellwood Bridge project forward, because it makes a lot of funding options available that weren't available before it," Multnomah County spokesman Mike Pullen said.

One of the bill's earmarks provides $30 million for the intersection where the bridge meets Southwest Macadam Boulevard. Adams also pledged to dedicate $8 million that the city would get from the bill to borrow $100 million in bonds for the bridge project.

If the counties come through with registration fee increases, and the federal government delivers $40 million, construction on the bridge could start in 2012.